Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Shahid Afridi to Lead Pakistan

This 2009 has been some rollercoaster of a year! For me as well as for the Pakistan cricket team.

I'll save my personal ride for some other time; Pakistan's ride has been nothing short of dramatic.

Captaincy change, a first home test series in 17 months, an attack on a visiting cricket team, an ODI series against Australia for the first time in half a decade, return of the ICL rebels, a World Cup win, retirements, a first test tour in 17 months, sensational debuts, unexplainable collapses, and what not.

Pakistan cricket has gone through a lot.

During this time, we at Well Pitched have been around riding this roller coaster with them.

Today as I get ready to shift base from the UAE to the UK, I leave with the news that Shahid Afridi has been announced captain of Pakistan's Twenty20 team.

How awesome is that!

Since the day Well Pitched came online about 2 years ago, I have been writing about two key things that I want to see happen.

One was the permanent inclusion of Fawad Alam in the Pakistan XI in all forms of the game.

The second was the elevation of Shahid Afridi to the position of Pakistan captain.

2009 has seen both those wishes come true.

Couldn't have asked for more, could I?

What's best is that this is just the beginning for Fawad Alam and Shahid Afridi the captain!

Surely better and bigger things are yet to come!

Make your pitch on this post...



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12 Pitched:

  1. Gaurav Sethi said...
     

    Shahid Afridi for Sports Minister!

  2. Unknown said...
     

    Now if only someone equally awesome would replace Zardari too...my happiness would be complete.

  3. SM said...
     

    Mubarakaan !! badhai . all calls come true . FA and SA both shine and I am a fan of both ,as they complete the spectrum of new and old players .
    I would like next to see S A be teh most successful captain of Pak and equal and exceed Imran Khan . However , there is one Q which always bothers me , that one should never trade a good thing in present with a relatively unknown thing in the future .
    What I mean is that SA is a gem and is currently unparalled by anyone across the globe in terms of talent and proving it time and again . what is the sureity that he will prove to be a good captain given that he has one of the most flourished minds in the game.

    May be I am totally wrong . Don't think I am thinking negative , but would love to play devils advocate on this .

    BTW I know you would be on the move so take your time . No issues.
    Bon Voyage

  4. Anonymous said...
     

    17 till i die.....

    Will he deliver? Will he mellow and take responsibility and not hit ball 1 outta park?

    we never know. but then "load" of captaincy might inject some dependency :)

  5. SledgeHammer said...
     

    @Q: Shouldn't you be on a flight instead of blogging???

  6. Wasim said...
     

    Congrats Q.

    Afridi deserved to lead in the shorter version of the game and hopefully he will live up to the expectations.

  7. Q said...
     

    NC,

    After the retirement maybe.. he's still a teenager!

  8. Q said...
     

    Husha,

    Soon soon :-)

  9. Q said...
     

    SM,

    There is no surity.. only time will tell if he will be a good captain or not. The only thing he has riding in his favor is his captaincy experience at the domestic level and his confidence.

    He has excelled in this role on the domestic circuit.. the international scene will be very different but there's no reason why he can't replicate the same success.

    Plus he has really wanted this job for a long time now and he has not hidden that fact.. he has been vocal about his desire to captain Pakistan, hence he will take the role up with a lot of confidence, which can only be good for a captain.

    Plus if one really wants something and constantly expresses it, then one also tries their level best to show why they had always been asking for that one thing. Again, that can only do good.

    Imran Khan once said that the best captains are usually those people who are difficult to control.

    Afridi fits that description to the T.

    Having said all that, there still is no surity.. but we will find out soon.

  10. Q said...
     

    Sam,

    Lets hope so..

  11. Q said...
     

    Sledge,

    I was on the flight right after this blog ;-) .. in London now..

  12. Q said...
     

    Wasim,

    Thanx man.

    And hopefully.. lets wait and c..

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